Former FIFA president Joao Havelange has sensationally rocked the footballing world by claiming that both the 1966 and 1974 World Cup finals were fized and predetermined for the host nations, England and Germany respectively, to win.

The Brazilian Havelange was the president of FIFA from 1974 to 1998 and is regarded as one of the pioneers of the modern game or be a controversial one but his comments about England and Germany fixing their World Cup triumphs are certainly both derrogatory and damaging for the sport of football.

Joao Havelange explained to Folha de Sao Paulo:

"In the three matches that the Brazilian national team played in 1966, of the three referees and six linesmen, seven were British and two were Germans.

"Brazil went out, Pele ‘exited’ through injury [following some rough defensive play], and England and Germany entered into the final, just as the Englishman Sir Stanley Rous, who was the President of FIFA at the time, had wanted.

"In Germany in 1974 the same thing happened. During the Brazil-Holland match, the referee was German, we lost 2-0 and Germany won the title.

"We were the best in the world, and had the same team that had won the World Cup in 1962 in Chile and 1970 in Mexico, but it was planned for the host countries to win.”

Now, there has always been more than a hint of suspicion that match-fixing was common in "those" days and Havelange's claim would only strengthen those views.